Penetanguishene councillors have decided the status quo isn't an acceptable solution to Church Street's parking woes.
Coun. Brian Cummings said staff's option to do nothing about additional parking isn't acceptable and more needs to be done to ensure residents get what the town owes them.
He and Coun. George Vadeboncoeur voiced their support for option number two presented in staff's report that recommends a detailed engineering design and construction of on-street parking at a cost of approximately $35,000.
"There's no need to redesign the whole street," Cummings said, talking to his peers and staff at Wednesday's meeting. "We've already had that done. We have detailed drawings of that design. All we need to do is a curb and a parking area, even if we just do the floating curb and we go two feet (on the curb)."
He said the town shrunk the width of that road, which had shoulders.
"We made it 6.5 metres," Cummings said. "We're obliged to make sure there's some room down there. We just need the rolling curb and asphalt area. I think there's ample room there even to put a gravel path off the road."
Mayor Doug Leroux said the answer to on-street parking on Church Street would actually mean the widening of Church Street from Burke Street to Yeo Street.
"The thing is that if we're looking at cost of $35,000 for design work and then the actual contract to do the work," he said. "I'm sure widening Church Street would be quite costly. And if we find out the cost is too exorbitant, then we've spent $35,000 for nothing."
Vadeboncoeur said there may not be any need to widen Church Street. He said he was suggesting considering the 100 - 150 feet on Church Street in the vicinity of 70 Church St.
"My interest was just to address the specific issue that's been brought to our attention that's been a long-standing matter before council," said Vadeboncoeur. "From my standpoint, you would have a barrier curb on the east side. It would be lowering that barrier curb to a rolled curb and providing maybe two feet of asphalt on top of that curb where there's a grass portion before it starts to rise. People can pull over on that rolled curb and park on what would be a shoulder."
He said he didn't see the need for anything fancier than that.
"That's why I thought it would make sense for an engineer to have a look at it and come back with options," added Vadeboncoeur. "Then we can deal with it after we've got some options to consider."
Coun. Jill St.Amant brought forward a third option that staff had included in its report.
"Would it maybe help to look at option three to look at making it a one-way area?" she said. "Would it help to divert the traffic to Fuller Street? The cost associated with that would be $25,000. It would then allow us to do the parking. It may be inconvenient, but overall wouldn't it be the easiest fix?"
Leroux nixed that idea, which was later voted down by the rest of council.
"I don't think I would support a one-way on that stretch," he said. "It would have to be on Burke Street to Yeo Street and the detour would be very long. I don't think that would be a solution."
Deputy Mayor Anita Dubeau asked staff if there was in-house expertise to design a rolling curb without hiring external engineers.
"Can we do the bare minimum without further professional opinions?" she said.
Brian Murray, director of public works, said that could be done.
Coun. Dan LaRose brought forth an amendment to the option.
"I don't think we need to do the whole block but if we could look at a preliminary drawing to see what a rollover curb would be, we would decide if we want to go out to an engineering firm or not," he said.
Council voted in favour of this option and will be looking at parking options staff brings back at a future meeting.
